ULM relying on youth in reshuffled passing game

Garrett Smith’s (13) numbers have leveled off from the first two starts of his career after injuries sidelined Rashon Ceaser indefinitely and put RJ Turner out for the season.(Photo: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports)

It was only natural to expect some sort of learning curve when Todd Berry turned ULM’s offense over to Garrett Smith.

Berry gushed over Smith’s ability at times during spring practice, but the redshirt freshman had never so much as taken a college snap prior to the season opener at Georgia.

Even ULM fans taking the most strident of wait-and-see approaches were taken aback by Smith’s numbers through two games. With Berry wearing the dual hat of head coach and play caller, Smith passed for 576 yards, completed 79 percent of his passes and threw five touchdowns to one interception.

Then Smith lost his best receiver, along with another starter.

Rashon Ceaser, the most indispensable commodity on an already depleted receiving corps, left the Alabama game with an ankle injury and remains out indefinitely. True freshman RJ Turner wasn’t so lucky and was lost for the rest of the season after playing his way onto the first-team offense in fall camp.

Smith has only completed 52 percent of his throws for 537 yards to go along with four touchdowns and four interceptions over ULM’s last three games as he tries to get comfortable with some new options out wide.

“The hardest part has just been getting the connection down but we’re working on that in practice every day,” Smith said. “We haven’t had those game reps but they’re coming along nicely.”

ULM has relied on redshirt freshman D’Marius Gillespie and junior Jared Mapps, who redshirted last season after coming out of the junior college ranks, to take some of the pressure of Ajalen Holley.

Gillespie and Mapps each caught touchdown passes in their first career starts against Georgia Southern. Mapps had four catches for 47 yards last week at Tulsa.

Mapps said the hardest adjustment moving receiver positions from the Z out to X.

“X is actually an easier position but you have to adjust to how the plays are called from the sideline,” Mapps said. “When Ceaser went down, (D’Marius) and I decided it was our time and we’ve gotten more comfortable each game.”

While things are starting to slow down on the field, both Mapps and Gillespie had their wide-eyed moments after getting thrown in the mix at Alabama.

“It was my job to calm them down. I promise I was just like them when I was the one getting to play for the first time so I just told them to treat it like practice,” Holley said.

“Practice is probably worse actually because you’ve got the coaches right there looking at every single thing you do if you mess up. You just have to let it come to you.”

Holley hasn’t lost a step as ULM’s new No. 1 option at receiver. Despite more attention coming his way from defenses, Holley caught eight passes for 166 yards against Georgia Southern and 11 for 113 yards and a touchdown at Tulsa.

“I’m just trying to bring a little energy to practice and lead by example for these young guys,” Holley said.

“When you have energy it eases the mood out here so we’re trying to do that as an entire receiver group. We don’t have time to be sluggish.”